Manufacturers are increasingly producing vehicles with higher levels of driving automation. Features such as adaptive cruise control and lane keeping have become popular and are precursors to greater adoption of fully autonomous-driving-capable vehicles.
While availability of autonomous-driving-capable vehicles is on the rise, users' familiarity and comfort with these functions will not necessarily keep pace. User trust in the automation is an important aspect in overall technology adoption.
Lack of trust in automated-driving functionality usually leads to reduced use of the system, such as by the user not engaging, or disengaging, autonomous-driving operation. Lack of trust can also keep the user from becoming aware of, or using, more advanced autonomous-driving capabilities.
Levels of adoption can also affect marketing and sales of autonomous-driving-capable vehicles. As users trust autonomous-driving systems more, they are more likely to purchase an autonomous-driving-capable vehicle and recommend, or model use of, one to others.